Method of refrigeration



May 2, 1933- B. F. RANDEI. 1,906,414

METHOD OF REFRIGERATION Filed Jan. 22, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet l May 2, 1933. B. F. RMDEL METHOD OF REFRIGERATI ON Filed Jan. 22, 1930 3 SheetsSheet 2 mmf May 2, 1933. B. F. RANDE| 1,906,414

METHOD 0F REFRIGERATION Filed Jan. 22, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5` cause circulation in an app fusion of vapor of lThird, by co increase the erant vapor. umn of said li further increas medium suci to devise a m ing very sim refrigeration and certain novel arrangements of parts in an apparatus to accombOleI 1'W11 lOOl plish this method of refrigeration as will vapors rising in tube? t0 low pressure chamhereinafter be described in detail and parber 8- ln this chamberths vapors are cooled Patented May 2, 1933 JBO FOLKE RNDEL, 0F. SAN' DIEGO, CALIFO* METHOD or nnrmcnnemon .Application led January 22, 1930. Serial No. 422,575..

My invention relates to method of refrigble of being vaporized and again condensed eration and the objects thereof are: First, to back to liquid form. aratus by vaporiz- Referring to Fig. l, assume a boiler 1 heating a liquid motive medium in one side of the ed by a flame 2. The boiler contains a liquid apparatus then condensing said vapors in 3, which liquid also fills tube 4 up to level C .55 another side ofthe apparatus, the two sides where said tube enters boiler l, tube 5 to level being connected in such a manner as to form B and part of high'pressure chamber 6 to a continuous circuit; Second, before the conlevel A. If no heat was applied to boiler l. densation of the m otive medium, cause difthe level of the liquid in tube 5 would be the a refrigerant in a vapor same as level C in tube 4, but with apparatus m of the motive medium, thus creating a low 1n operation, as wil ticularly set forth in the appended claims, and COIldeDSed t0 1i principle and Figure thereon which fo ln the accom paratus wherein my method is carried out .will be severaldiderent ways and With a are conventional and well may be built in the parts thereof own in the arts.

reference beingl had to the accompanying S0 flmed PaSug drawings and to the character of reference level 0f the llquld rm a part of this specificam1100- b fIOm level of liquid level in heating system wit l be described, the level in l pressure on said refrigerant. 'tube 5 will be slightly raised a distance ndensing said motive medium from@ to B2. k partial pressure on said refrig llt is assumed that the apparatus is sealed,

ourth, by a descending coland that the space queiied motive medium still er l, tube 7 low pressure chamber 8 and tube e the pressure on said motive 5 is filled with vapor of the li ent to condense saine.A Fifth, Also that space ab ethod of refrigeration requir- Sure chamber 6 is lled with a noncondcnsaple and inexpensive apparatus. ble gas, for instance, air. 7@ With these and other objects in View as Surrounding low pressure chamber 8 is a pear hereinafter, my invention concooling jacket 9 allowing water orv other a certain novel method to produce medium to` cool the vapors in said chamber. With dame 2 in operation, the liquid in above liquid level in boil- 65 uid used. ove level A in igh presand form vapors, these quid form, the condensate down tube 5, raising the i in this tube a small disgm C to B. Wit-h the raising tube 5 a dow will occur Panying drawings, Figures 1, dOWl :trub up. 4 and dis' ow successive steps illustrating the Ullagmg mto'bolle? 1: general clrcuia' 85 pon which my mgthod is based tron of vapors and l1qu1d will be set up as 1ns 4, 5, 6 and 7 show possible modiheated by arrows ications of the apparatus wherein my methmay. be hkened to a gravlty return steam od is carried out. v d

The figures are diagrammatic. The apand condensate 'return plp@ 5' The system as shown h a boiler 1, a radiator 8 lt is seen that a di'erential of pressures w established between chambers 8 and 6.

pressure of P pounds in chamber 8,

the pressure on the entrapped air in cham- A I 1 Y ber 6 will be P pounds plus pressure due to.,

5 emp OY lm geleral W0 medlllms. H1 my weight of liquid column l-ll. 9

method of refrigeration. One, a motlve mefhum and the other a refrigeratng 0F C001- arrangement as shown in Fig. lwith the addiing medium. Botlr mediums are chemically tion of a tube l0 with regulating valve l1, inert towards each other and immiscible in connecting the vapor space of lower chamber Referring to Fig. 2, ll have an identical 50 liquid form. Both mediums shall be capa- 6 and upper chamber 8. The operating oi? 1 the apparatus isv similar to the operation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 until valve 11 is opened. With the opening of this valve there will be a circulation of the air from high pressure chamber 6 through tube 10 up to low pressure chamber 8. In this chamber, the air will mix with the condensed liquid and will be drawn down through tube 5, the liquid forming pistons enclosing bubbles of air during the descent. The requirement to do this is that the weight of the combined liquid and air column H plus H1 shall be greater than the liquid column I-I.

The arrangement is similar to a conventional barometric condenser where the exhaust steam is condensed, and the vacuum'is created by the descending column of condensate drawing non-condensable gases along in a delivery pipe. It is seen, that if the liquid used is water, it will be possible to create a near vacuum by a column approx. 32 feet high. If mercury is the liquid used, the height to produce vacuum in the upper chamber and discharging against atmospheric pressure or 14.7 lbs. abs. will be approx. 30 inches. A pressure difference of 14.7 lbs. may therefore be .established between upper low pressure chamber and lower high pressure chamber. These values are very approximate, and an additional height of liquid column will be required to offset lowering of the weight due to mixing of the air with the liquid.

In Fig. 2 I have therefore illustrated the fundamental elements of my invention, which includes an expander, expanding a gas from a high pressure to a lower pressure and a compressor, compressing the expanded gas to the original high pressure, and by making the liquid column sufficiently high or using aliquid of high specific gravity, I may obtain a pressure difference sufficiently large to cause a heat exchange which may be employed in a p-ractical refrigerating apparatus.

Referring to Fig. 3 I have shown an apparat-us, Where the principles illustra-ted in Figures 1 and 2 are applied in a practical Way. The motive liquid is assumed to be mercury and the refrigerating medium is assumed to be hexane. Hexane liquid will vaporize at a temperature of 10 degrees F. under 0.393 lbs. abs. pressure and will liquefy at 90 degrees condensing temperature under 3.88 lbs. abs. pressure. The high and low pressure difference is therefore only 3.487 pounds and a mercury column less than 8 inches high will be sufficient to perform the work of compression. In a practical apparatus, this column will be made considerably higher.

Mercury is vaporized in boiler 1, and due to the very low pressure in this boiler, the required temperature will not be excessive. Also. the heat input is small, as the spec. heat and latent heat of mercury is very low. Mercury vapor will rise in tube 7 to diffusion chamber 8.

Liquid hexane is contained in evaporator 12, which evaporator connects Vwith high pressure chamber 6 by tube 10 and diffusion chamber 8 by tube 15. In this chamber, hexby water or other medium in jacket 14 and liquefied, the liquid being driven upwards into the evaporator by the differential of pressures, there to be re-evaporated.

Instead of hexane, many other mediums may be used. The necessary requirements being small pressure difference between high and low pressures, low condensing pressure and low vaporizing pressure. Also that the mediums shall be immiscible in liquid form. Water may be used as refrigerating medium, or pentane, heptane, ethers, alcohols and other hydrocarbons. Water may be the motive medium with many other mediums as refrigerating agents.

Referring to Fig. 4, a modication of the apparatus is illustrated. A In this modification the condenser liquefying the refrigerating medium and the cooling arrangement provided for condensing the motive medium are combined in one. The entire length of tube 5 is here enclosed in cooling jacket 16.

The object is to condense and liquefy the refrigerating medium in this tube 5 during the descent into high pressure chamber 6, the pressure on the refrigerating medium gradually increasing during the path downwards. The liquefied refrigerating medium being lighter than the liquid motive medium will separate into chamber 6 and will float on top of the motive medium, forming a definite line F of separation between the two mediums. From this chamber 6, the liquefied refrigerating medium flows up into evaporator 12. The operation in other respects is similar to the operation in apparatus shown in Fig. 3.

Referring to Fig. 5, another modification of the apparatus is illustrated. This modification is similar to modification illustrated in Fig. 4, except the apparatus is suitable in cases where the liquefied refrigerating medium is heavier than the liquefied motive medium.

In this modification I may use water `as motive medium and trichlorethylene as refrigilo ' motionv `illustrated in Fig. 6 is similar to apparatus as illustrated in Fig. 3 except construction in boiler 1.

The tube 7 is constructed at its lower end in It is seen that by this arrangement not only vapors will rise intube 7, but liquid also will accompany this vapor up to upper chamber The provision required to cause such is that the weight of the combined vapor and liquid in columns 7 and 4 shall be less than the Weight of liquid and vapor in tube 5. This may be accomplished by adjusting the relative elevations of the different parts of the apparatus.

Several other modifications maybe devised, all suitable to perform the work in my method of refrigeration and I do not limit myself to any one type of apparatus nor to any one combination of' mediums, but include all arrangements and all mediums suitable to carry out my method. In one modification the apparatus may for instance be constructed along conventional injector lines,jallowing f or .compressionpf the cooling agent byutihzing the kinetlc energy of the vaporized motive medium liowmg from a higher pres- -sure into a condensing space under lower pressure. This modification isshown in diagramatic form in Fig. 7 1

In this Fig. 7, boiler 19 containing mercury liquid is heated by flame 30. Mercury `ing agent, which will vapor willascend tube 2O to-injector nozzle 21 in low pressure chamber 22. This chamber is surrounded by cooling jacket 24 allowing for Water or aircooling.'

s mercury vapor enters the low pressure chamber 22, the flow being restricted so as to maintain the high pressure in boiler 19 and tube 20, condensation and reduction of pressure will occur in this chamber 22. The velocity of-,the mercury vapor issuing from a higher pressure to a lower pressure .ornear vacuum will force any other vapors present in chamber 22 down through 'delivery tube 23 to high pressure chamber 25.-

The evaporator 28 contains a suitable coolbe vaporizedlunder the low pressure produced in chamber 22, being in communication with same through tube 29. The descending columnof mercury in delivpart of chamber'6, While lar to operation of apparatus illustrated in .of said water. the shape of a funnel, similar to a percolator.

'refrigerant vapor,

ery tube 23 will compress the vapor of the cooling agent and liquefy same by the removal of heat, jacket 24 allowing for water or air as cooling medium. In other respects the apparatus operates similar to apparatus villustrated i-n Fig. 4.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim is: V p

l. A method of refrigeration comprising elevating water by thermodynamic force to a higher position, allowing said water to descend and form slugs enclosing vapor of tri-- chlorethylene compressing same, removing the heat of vaporization during said compression and then vaporizing said resultant liquid I trichlorethylene under the lowered pressure produced by the descending .column 2. A method of refrigeration employing a motive medium and a refrigerant in -a closed and sealed systemwhich comprises vaporizing the motive ymedium by vaporizing the refrigerant with theobject of heat absorption and under conditions so as to maintain substantially equal pressures onrefrigerant vapor and vapor of the motive medium, diusing said vapors into each other,

heat application, A

thus causing areduction of partial ressure y on each vapor, cooling the mixture o vapors to liquefy the vapor of the motive medium, f

but not therefrigerant vapor, thus increasing the partlal pressure on refrigerant vapor,

allowing the liquefied motive medium and the refrigerant vapor to fall under the influence of gravity to a lower point, increasing thepressure on said refrigerant vapor due to the liquid column thus formed, separating the refrigerant vapor from the liquefied motive medium, cooling and liquefying the refrigerant .'vapor and returning each respective liquid to points of vaporization.

3. A method of refrigeration employing a motive medium and a refrigerant whlch comprises generating force by thermodynamic action to cause circulationof said mediums, vaporizing the motive medium, vaporizing the refrigerant, causing diiiusion of said vapors ,into each other, then condensing .the vapor of said motive medium, adding its partial pressure to the partial pressure onrefrigerant vapor, causing bodies of the condensate vto descend, said bodies enclosing quantities of vapor of said refrigerant; cool- 1 ing the mixture of condensed motive medium and refrigerant vapor so as to liquefy said liquid mixture and returning the respective liquids to points of vaporization;

4.1 A ymethod of refrigeration employing a motive medium and a refrigerantin a closed system which comprises vaporizing the motive medium by heat-application, the refrigerant with the object of heat absorption andlunder conditions so as to maintain substantially equall pressures on refrigerant separating the resultant vaporizing vapor and vapor of the motive medium, diffusing said vapors into each other thus causing a reduction of the partial pressures on each vapor and a mixture of vapors, cooling 5` said mixture of vapor sufficient to liquefy said vapor of said motive medium and reducing its partial vapor pressures, thus increasing the vapor pressure on the refrigerant, removing the liquefied motive medium and the i refrigerant vapor from point of diffusion by enclosing the said vapor between descending slugs of said liquid,'increasing the pressure on said refrigerant vapor suiclent to liquefy same` by cooling, separating the two liquids and returning each to its respective points of vaporization.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at San Diego, California, this 30th day of December, 1929.

BO FOLKE RANDEL. 

